Hexagon Vs. Blender

13

Comments

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    Padone said:

    Hexagon is just a modeler. And it doesn't even have sculpting so it's old school. It recalls me of Nendo, Wings and Silo somewhat. Very old stuff.

    Yeah, there's a world of difference between Hexagon and Blender. But keep in mind that not everyone wants or needs all (or most) of the stuff Blender has. Yeah, it has a built-in compositor and a huge range of modelling features, and even a video editor, and scripting to make life easy as you want, and so on. But if someone isn't interested in those things, and only wants some basic modelling, I'm sure Hexagon is fine. I can't recall when I used Hexagon (very long ago) and it was nice, but very very limited as I recall. So I've been using Blender forever. But as with most software it comes down to personal wants, needs, and preference.  

     

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    Padone said:

    I mainly use DAZ Studio as a content generator for Blender. Because Blender has better animation and rendering tools. Not to mention simulations and fx that in Studio are almost inexistent and/or at the very early stage.

    Hexagon is just a modeler. And it doesn't even have sculpting so it's old school. It recalls me of Nendo, Wings and Silo somewhat. Very old stuff. The most useful feature to add to Hexagon right now would probably be sculpting to edit HD morphs and/or export them to normal maps. So that those "interactive licenses" could be of some use at last.

    Blender is a full 3D platform for animation and fx. Not just modeling. And IMHO it's far better than DS+Hexagon at the time being.

    I was told by two different DAZ Store PAs that Hexagon, even now, does have sculpting, and they would know because they used it.

    While I will continue to slowly learn Blender I find that for creating morphs, and maybe even hair & clothing modeling later for DAZ Originals and DAZ format models a 64bit extended Hexagon specialized for DAZ content would be very helpful and a big time saver.

  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,437
    edited December 2017

    I was told by two different DAZ Store PAs that Hexagon, even now, does have sculpting

    What they call "sculpting" is what Blender calls "proportional editing". That is, it's just a tool to grab vertices around in a smooth way. It has nothing to do with real sculpting such us Z-Brush and 3D-Coat. Blender has real sculpting.

     

    EDIT: The difference is that with sculpting you define a displacement map to apply to the basic topology cage, or HD morphs as DS calls them. While with proportional editing you just define morphs for the basic cage. They are two very different things.

     

    Post edited by Padone on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    Padone said:

    I was told by two different DAZ Store PAs that Hexagon, even now, does have sculpting

    What they call "sculpting" is what Blender calls "proportional editing". That is, it's just a tool to grab vertices around in a smooth way. It has nothing to do with real sculpting such us Z-Brush and 3D-Coat. Blender has real sculpting.

     

    EDIT: The difference is that with sculpting you define a displacement map to apply to the basic topology cage, or HD morphs as DS calls them. While with proportional editing you just define morphs for the basic cage. They are two very different things.

     

    Oh, I missed the part where they meant the Hexagon sculpting was actually Proportional Editing. Bummer frown I was looking forward to Hexagon 64 bit to learn.

  • Hey guys,

    I have a question. I am begginer so I would

    apologize if I am asking something obvious. I am wondering, if I can somehow implement existing clothes (models/cuts) in the program and work on them?

     

    Thanks for help in advance.

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Tadej

  • Hey guys,

    I have a question. I am begginer so I would

    apologize if I am asking something obvious. I am wondering, if I can somehow implement existing clothes (models/cuts) in the program and work on them?

     

    Thanks for help in advance.

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Tadej

    I'm not sure what you mean - load an existing item into a mdoeller and modify it? Yes, but if you want to use the modification as a morph on the original you cannot add or remove geometry.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    Singular Blues mentioned the radial menu in Blender, how do I get that to come up on the screen?  I have seen in it some tutorials but have no idea where it is. Just wanting to check it out to see if it is useful for me or not.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    Kharma said:

    Singular Blues mentioned the radial menu in Blender, how do I get that to come up on the screen?  I have seen in it some tutorials but have no idea where it is. Just wanting to check it out to see if it is useful for me or not.

    LOL, it too is a shortcut - you get to it via the 'tab' key

  • DaremoK3DaremoK3 Posts: 798

    Kharma:

     

    Not quite sure what nonesuch00 is describing, but are you referring to the Pie Menus (which may be construed as radial selections from epicenter)?

     

    If so, you need to enable them in the User Preferences under the Addons Tab.

     

    The "Tab" button shortcut is Mode selection (Edit, Sculpting, Posing, Object, etc.), and defaults to quick Edit/Object Mode transfers, but if you enable the Pie Menus it will give you a radial selection of all the available Modes.

     

    Also, enabling Pie Menus will give you other shortcuted radial selections for all kinds of different operations.  You will just need to learn which shortcut key activates which set of pie operators.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    DaremoK3 said:

    Kharma:

     

    Not quite sure what nonesuch00 is describing, but are you referring to the Pie Menus (which may be construed as radial selections from epicenter)?

     

    If so, you need to enable them in the User Preferences under the Addons Tab.

     

    The "Tab" button shortcut is Mode selection (Edit, Sculpting, Posing, Object, etc.), and defaults to quick Edit/Object Mode transfers, but if you enable the Pie Menus it will give you a radial selection of all the available Modes.

     

    Also, enabling Pie Menus will give you other shortcuted radial selections for all kinds of different operations.  You will just need to learn which shortcut key activates which set of pie operators.

    They are enabled by default in Blender 2.79 (latest stable released version of Blender).

    You get then to show up on the viewport with the tab key. 

    Tab Key:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_key

    PIE menus:

    https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.72/UI/Pie_Menus

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    DaremoK3 said:

    Kharma:

     

    Not quite sure what nonesuch00 is describing, but are you referring to the Pie Menus (which may be construed as radial selections from epicenter)?

     

    If so, you need to enable them in the User Preferences under the Addons Tab.

     

    The "Tab" button shortcut is Mode selection (Edit, Sculpting, Posing, Object, etc.), and defaults to quick Edit/Object Mode transfers, but if you enable the Pie Menus it will give you a radial selection of all the available Modes.

     

    Also, enabling Pie Menus will give you other shortcuted radial selections for all kinds of different operations.  You will just need to learn which shortcut key activates which set of pie operators.

    They are enabled by default in Blender 2.79 (latest stable released version of Blender).

    You get then to show up on the viewport with the tab key. 

    Tab Key:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_key

    PIE menus:

    https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.72/UI/Pie_Menus

    thank you both for the information, I will see if I can get that up on my screen now

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    Under user preferences addons/ pie menu  I have 2 options to enable pie menu one is 3D viewport pie menue and the other is UI Pie menu official, neither is enabled

  • DaremoK3DaremoK3 Posts: 798
    edited February 2018

    Yeah, Kharma, they have never been enabled by default.  I admit, I don't know why one says 3D viewport as opposed to the official Pie Menu, as I have them disabled for many of my over twenty side-by-side Blender versions I use, but I would try both of them and see which one you like better.

    The official one is the one that was developed from the original Pie Menu (which I use daily in my 2.71 build), but is very different from it's origins, and I personally, do not like or use it at all.  However, it might be the one you see used in the video tutorials.

    The 3D Viewport version, might be closer to the original Pie Menu, but even that one is far off from the original one as well.  Like I said, go ahead and give them both a try, and see which one you like better.

    * EDIT:  nonesuch00 gave a great link to the Pie Menu page that has the base shortcuts for operators.  Though, it is for 2.72 when the Pie Menu's were changed (from original 2.71 that I am using), but I believe the shortcuts should hold up for 2.79 as well.

    Great link, nonesuch00, thank you for posting.

    Post edited by DaremoK3 on
  • sura_tcsura_tc Posts: 174

    Blender all the way.

    What shortcuts are people talking about though? I hardly use any shortcut when modelling in Blender.

  • DaremoK3DaremoK3 Posts: 798

    Took me a while to find, but here is an example of the original Pie Menu (TAB - Mode Selection) add-on in Blender 2.71 that goes back as an external add-on to B2.64 by Dan Eicher (original author), Patrick Moore, and Sean Olson.

    Click for full size:

     

    By comparison, here is official version released (as included add-on) by Blender devs for B2.72 and onwards.

    Click for full size:

     

    Kharma:

    Here is some info on the differences between the two versions available to you in User Preferences/Addons:

    https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/66654/which-pie-menus-addon-to-use

     

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    DaremoK3 said:

    Yeah, Kharma, they have never been enabled by default.  I admit, I don't know why one says 3D viewport as opposed to the official Pie Menu, as I have them disabled for many of my over twenty side-by-side Blender versions I use, but I would try both of them and see which one you like better.

    The official one is the one that was developed from the original Pie Menu (which I use daily in my 2.71 build), but is very different from it's origins, and I personally, do not like or use it at all.  However, it might be the one you see used in the video tutorials.

    The 3D Viewport version, might be closer to the original Pie Menu, but even that one is far off from the original one as well.  Like I said, go ahead and give them both a try, and see which one you like better.

    * EDIT:  nonesuch00 gave a great link to the Pie Menu page that has the base shortcuts for operators.  Though, it is for 2.72 when the Pie Menu's were changed (from original 2.71 that I am using), but I believe the shortcuts should hold up for 2.79 as well.

    Great link, nonesuch00, thank you for posting.

    In 2.79 you need not enable PIE menus as they are default.

    I have Blender 2.79 - I press tab key - I get PIE menu

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    edited February 2018
    sura_tc said:

    Blender all the way.

    What shortcuts are people talking about though? I hardly use any shortcut when modelling in Blender.

    You can use menus as they are laid out logically very well too. If you want short cuts do a image search for 'Blender Shortcuts' and choose the format you like best.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    DaremoK3 said:

    Yeah, Kharma, they have never been enabled by default.  I admit, I don't know why one says 3D viewport as opposed to the official Pie Menu, as I have them disabled for many of my over twenty side-by-side Blender versions I use, but I would try both of them and see which one you like better.

    The official one is the one that was developed from the original Pie Menu (which I use daily in my 2.71 build), but is very different from it's origins, and I personally, do not like or use it at all.  However, it might be the one you see used in the video tutorials.

    The 3D Viewport version, might be closer to the original Pie Menu, but even that one is far off from the original one as well.  Like I said, go ahead and give them both a try, and see which one you like better.

    * EDIT:  nonesuch00 gave a great link to the Pie Menu page that has the base shortcuts for operators.  Though, it is for 2.72 when the Pie Menu's were changed (from original 2.71 that I am using), but I believe the shortcuts should hold up for 2.79 as well.

    Great link, nonesuch00, thank you for posting.

    In 2.79 you need not enable PIE menus as they are default.

    I have Blender 2.79 - I press tab key - I get PIE menu

    I have Blender 2.79 and when I hit TAB it switches between edit mode and object mode, I have not made ony modifications to my version of blender other than enabling a couple addons such as archimesh and extra objects.  Is the TAb key standard for PIE menu?

  • Hello!

    First things first:  To the OP, congratulations for trying Blender "one more time".  Just because of this, I think you're already on the road to success.

    Now that DAZ is actually working on Hexagon, I say use both if you can.  I mean, why not; it's not like you're losing anything.  For me, it's made harder by a couple things, but the main thing is that the dropdowns, help text, menus, and other UI elements are still TOO SMALL to read in Hexagon.  I can easily enlarge them in my Blender configuration settings, but not in Hexagon, so...my choice is made for me.

    And Cararra is the same way; virtually unreadable without putting on reading glasses and moving closer to the screen.  I got some grief a few years ago for complaining, and one forum member even said I should see my eye doctor.  Eventually, it dawned on me that the best way to avoid long-term madness and a personal relationship with antidepressant medicines would be to give up on Cararra and leave both the software and the forum behind.

    Going back to a prior post in this thread...yeah, when any vendor is not responsive to the users' needs, I kind of see that as being a bit like "The Man" saying "tough; you're going to accept this and you're going to like it so much, you'll even ask for even fewer modernizations in the future."

    Come on, it's 2018!  Every UI should have a way to change the size and readability of the individual elements that are part of the user interface.

  •  

    Come on, it's 2018!  Every UI should have a way to change the size and readability of the individual elements that are part of the user interface.

    Newer major version numbers of software, sure; older ones will never be able to have this if the underlying UI interface library does not support it. I suspect DAZ may do this with Hexagon now that thy are working on it again, but I'm not sure yet when they will start building a new SDKS for Carrara and DS.

  • Kharma said:
    DaremoK3 said:

    Yeah, Kharma, they have never been enabled by default.  I admit, I don't know why one says 3D viewport as opposed to the official Pie Menu, as I have them disabled for many of my over twenty side-by-side Blender versions I use, but I would try both of them and see which one you like better.

    The official one is the one that was developed from the original Pie Menu (which I use daily in my 2.71 build), but is very different from it's origins, and I personally, do not like or use it at all.  However, it might be the one you see used in the video tutorials.

    The 3D Viewport version, might be closer to the original Pie Menu, but even that one is far off from the original one as well.  Like I said, go ahead and give them both a try, and see which one you like better.

    * EDIT:  nonesuch00 gave a great link to the Pie Menu page that has the base shortcuts for operators.  Though, it is for 2.72 when the Pie Menu's were changed (from original 2.71 that I am using), but I believe the shortcuts should hold up for 2.79 as well.

    Great link, nonesuch00, thank you for posting.

    In 2.79 you need not enable PIE menus as they are default.

    I have Blender 2.79 - I press tab key - I get PIE menu

    I have Blender 2.79 and when I hit TAB it switches between edit mode and object mode, I have not made ony modifications to my version of blender other than enabling a couple addons such as archimesh and extra objects.  Is the TAb key standard for PIE menu?

    It definitely was on by default. Perhaps they changed it in recent builds. I worked with it for about 2 weeks under the rubric of "you'll get used to it." I did not, so I turned it off. But I do recall those two weeks. Anyway, during that time, yes. Tab was the base for launching the pie in 2.79. I had enabled the addon once before, and I think it was hot keyed to Q, but it was definitely tab in 2.79. Which is why I gave it the 2 weeks. I have a lot of muscle memory that says "tab to edit mode," and I wanted to see if it could be broken. To me, and I may repeat myself, it was just a whole bunch of added mouse actions because a thing that was in my mind/body system "press tab" was now wanting me to "press tab, mouse around, click."

    I can see the benefits, so I don't mean to say it is bad. Just, I don't tend to need what it offers, as I rarely use all of the options on that menu. Edit mode, object mode. Most of what I need right there. Otherwise, I'm in the material node editor.

    To be a booster again, this is a good thing IMO. I don't need the pie menu. I can just turn it off. Maybe someone else does. There it is. I'm still in camp hot key, but I can see the benefit of reducing it all to one radial menu. Indeed, you don't have to mouse. I'm just inclined to when looking at a menu. The numbers on the pie menu options correspond to the numbers in the keyboard number row, so one could Tab then 6 to edit mode or Z then 9 to go into render preview. The key point being, you get 15 mode options in 15 key combos but you only need to remember Tab and Z. Not bad, really. If I needed all that stuff all the time, I'd see the benefit.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    Kharma said:
    DaremoK3 said:

    Yeah, Kharma, they have never been enabled by default.  I admit, I don't know why one says 3D viewport as opposed to the official Pie Menu, as I have them disabled for many of my over twenty side-by-side Blender versions I use, but I would try both of them and see which one you like better.

    The official one is the one that was developed from the original Pie Menu (which I use daily in my 2.71 build), but is very different from it's origins, and I personally, do not like or use it at all.  However, it might be the one you see used in the video tutorials.

    The 3D Viewport version, might be closer to the original Pie Menu, but even that one is far off from the original one as well.  Like I said, go ahead and give them both a try, and see which one you like better.

    * EDIT:  nonesuch00 gave a great link to the Pie Menu page that has the base shortcuts for operators.  Though, it is for 2.72 when the Pie Menu's were changed (from original 2.71 that I am using), but I believe the shortcuts should hold up for 2.79 as well.

    Great link, nonesuch00, thank you for posting.

    In 2.79 you need not enable PIE menus as they are default.

    I have Blender 2.79 - I press tab key - I get PIE menu

    I have Blender 2.79 and when I hit TAB it switches between edit mode and object mode, I have not made ony modifications to my version of blender other than enabling a couple addons such as archimesh and extra objects.  Is the TAb key standard for PIE menu?

     

    Kharma said:
    DaremoK3 said:

    Yeah, Kharma, they have never been enabled by default.  I admit, I don't know why one says 3D viewport as opposed to the official Pie Menu, as I have them disabled for many of my over twenty side-by-side Blender versions I use, but I would try both of them and see which one you like better.

    The official one is the one that was developed from the original Pie Menu (which I use daily in my 2.71 build), but is very different from it's origins, and I personally, do not like or use it at all.  However, it might be the one you see used in the video tutorials.

    The 3D Viewport version, might be closer to the original Pie Menu, but even that one is far off from the original one as well.  Like I said, go ahead and give them both a try, and see which one you like better.

    * EDIT:  nonesuch00 gave a great link to the Pie Menu page that has the base shortcuts for operators.  Though, it is for 2.72 when the Pie Menu's were changed (from original 2.71 that I am using), but I believe the shortcuts should hold up for 2.79 as well.

    Great link, nonesuch00, thank you for posting.

    In 2.79 you need not enable PIE menus as they are default.

    I have Blender 2.79 - I press tab key - I get PIE menu

    I have Blender 2.79 and when I hit TAB it switches between edit mode and object mode, I have not made ony modifications to my version of blender other than enabling a couple addons such as archimesh and extra objects.  Is the TAb key standard for PIE menu?

    It definitely was on by default. Perhaps they changed it in recent builds. I worked with it for about 2 weeks under the rubric of "you'll get used to it." I did not, so I turned it off. But I do recall those two weeks. Anyway, during that time, yes. Tab was the base for launching the pie in 2.79. I had enabled the addon once before, and I think it was hot keyed to Q, but it was definitely tab in 2.79. Which is why I gave it the 2 weeks. I have a lot of muscle memory that says "tab to edit mode," and I wanted to see if it could be broken. To me, and I may repeat myself, it was just a whole bunch of added mouse actions because a thing that was in my mind/body system "press tab" was now wanting me to "press tab, mouse around, click."

    I can see the benefits, so I don't mean to say it is bad. Just, I don't tend to need what it offers, as I rarely use all of the options on that menu. Edit mode, object mode. Most of what I need right there. Otherwise, I'm in the material node editor.

    To be a booster again, this is a good thing IMO. I don't need the pie menu. I can just turn it off. Maybe someone else does. There it is. I'm still in camp hot key, but I can see the benefit of reducing it all to one radial menu. Indeed, you don't have to mouse. I'm just inclined to when looking at a menu. The numbers on the pie menu options correspond to the numbers in the keyboard number row, so one could Tab then 6 to edit mode or Z then 9 to go into render preview. The key point being, you get 15 mode options in 15 key combos but you only need to remember Tab and Z. Not bad, really. If I needed all that stuff all the time, I'd see the benefit.

    That PIE menu being changed to default annoys me too but I am sticking with it since all new tutorials will have that convention. indecision

    Here is how to activate it if you've deactivated it:

    https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21044/how-to-get-to-the-pie-menus

  • I love the pie menus, but they were definitely not on by default in my copy of 2.79. When creating things I flip around between sculpting, editing and object mode a lot and having the tab key restricted to just edit and object mode would drive me nuts.

    Weirdly though, some of the pie menu options don't work for me. The documentation says that z should bring up a pie menu with all the shading options and that o should bring up a pie menu for all the proportional editing settings (in edit mode) and neither of those work. I wish they did!

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890

    My PIE menu work fine.  The 1st things I do after installing Blender though is enable all stable addons - It's not full on working copy of Blender like used in most of the tutorials until that is done.

  •  

    Come on, it's 2018!  Every UI should have a way to change the size and readability of the individual elements that are part of the user interface.

    Newer major version numbers of software, sure; older ones will never be able to have this if the underlying UI interface library does not support it...

    Okay, well that's the old fashioned way of thinking, what with "major version gets this and minor version gets that".  The world is changing, and now everybody sprints to the finish line. (see what I did there?) 

    And how many times have you heard the old saw that small companies are quick and responsive to the customer while big companies are not?  That's a myth now.  Think about this for a moment:  Is the smaller company really quick and agile if it takes YEARS and many Versions to implemement a usage feature, while bigger companies have and do make short work of things like that?  This is not quick.  It's slow.  Hey, it's not like I just started complaining about the UI graphics.  And I'm not the only one.  Most people here in their 50s and up have some sort of vision challenges.  Tiny menus are awful.  A lot of people in their 40s are already wearing readers, too.  Maybe DAZ is waiting for DAZ people to come home with new reader prescriptions?

    I can see it now, "Oh snap!  That guy Subtropic Pixel was right all along, I really CAN'T see the fine print anymore.  I really want to fix that for him and thousands of others like him, but I can't even read my own emails now, let alone all my source code in my Visual C++ Management Studio!" 

    Put a team on this; that's all I'm asking.  Time's a wasting!  After all, your customers in their 40s and up have work to do, and we don't need to see an eye doctor!

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 40,514

    ...at least having trouble with fine print on a CG programme does not have as dire consequences as the microscopic print they put on medications today.  You almost need a jewelers loupe to read the dosage instructions these days.  I'm surprised more people don't succumb to overdoses.

  • tkdroberttkdrobert Posts: 3,532

    I'm in the same boat as you Jasmine, I feel I have to learn modeling to get the things I want.  I'm mostly interested in creating space ships and mechs.  I tried Blender a while back for art and it's just too complicated for the time I have, so I'm going to try out Hexagon.  One of my favorite models was created using that program.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 40,514

    ...for non organic modelling, Hexagon is perfect.

  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,714
    kyoto kid said:

    ...for non organic modelling, Hexagon is perfect.

    For some, and others not so much.

    That is why it is good there are plenty of options; everyone learns differently, and find different tools suite them best.

  • PedroCPedroC Posts: 192

    First of all, no application is perfect. Second, look for the application that meets your needs and you feel comfortable. Third, you do not have to learn any keyboard shortcuts to use Blender, you can do everything based on menus. To continue, surely if you use a lot of an application you will use one or many keyboard shortcuts. Sure the video tutorials are full of menu shortcuts, but it's as simple as the one that teaches them is already used to them and it's much faster than going from menu to menu by clicking on options.

    To use Blender at a basic or medium level, you do not have to be an expert, however obvious this may seem. It is very possible that the bad experiences of many are due to a bad first contact with the application. Maybe because he has not found someone who has explained them in the simplest way for his approach. A week ago I had to explain to my brother the basic use of Blender, that he wanted to use it for illustration in a simple way and in only 4 hours he was already using Blender for what he wanted. His knowledge of 3d applications was zero, and I think that if he were directly to watch video tutorials he would have unistaled Blender.

    Another thing that I always notice is that people who have had problems with Blender never clearly state what their base problems are with the application. They have just had a bad contact with the program and have closed the door forever. And do not you wonder how it can be that such a "bad" program is being used and supported by such a wide community? Are you sure the application fails? Blender has evolved a lot and the current version is very different from four years ago.

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